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    TikTok names exec at Chinese parent ByteDance as new CEO

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments725 Views

    By Tali Arbel, AP Technology Writer

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    The hit video app TikTok said Friday that an executive at its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, will now also serve as TikTok CEO.

    The new CEO, Shouzi Chew, is the chief financial officer of ByteDance. He is based in Singapore, where TikTok has an office. 

    Vanessa Pappas, based in Los Angeles, has been interim head of TikTok since August 2020. That's when Kevin Mayer, a former top Disney executive who lasted just a few months as TikTok's chief, resigned. Pappas will become TikTok's chief operating officer. 

    Chew became ByteDance CFO in March. He had previously been a top executive for Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, which went public in 2018.

    TikTok's app features short videos, many with music and dancing, made by its users that has become a favorite of younger people. Research firm eMarketer predicts that TikTok will have 73 million U.S. users this year, and TikTok said last year that it has about 700 million users globally. There is a separate version of TikTok called Douyin for Chinese users.

    TikTok named Mayer as its U.S.-based CEO last year amid scrutiny from President Donald Trump and his administration, which tried to ban the app based on vague national-security concerns and to force its sale to Oracle and Walmart. The Biden administration has put these efforts on hold  as it reviews national security threats posed by Chinese technology companies.

    While it's still unclear what the Biden administration will decide to do with TikTok, the CEO choice suggests the pressure is off ByteDance compared with how the company fared under Trump, said eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson. "It does seem to me that the concern over ByteDance having to divest TikTok may be lessened. TikTok is trying to move forward as a truly global company, and one that hopefully isn't going to be broken up." 

    ByteDance CEO Yiming Zhang said in a statement that Chew will focus on "corporate governance and long-term business initiatives," while Pappas oversees the app's operations. 

    "We will continue building out our strong and deep management team as we set the stage for the next phase of TikTok's success," Chew said.

    Tags:ByteDanceShouzi ChewTikTokVanessa Pappas



    Jacob Elordi Is On A Roll With Roles For Directors Sofia Coppola, Guillermo del Toro and Paul Schrader

    Thursday, December 19, 2024

    Jacob Elordi is suddenly everywhere in Hollywood — so much so that he thinks he must be dreaming.

    Amid a remarkable streak of high-profile projects with respected filmmakers — Sofia Coppola's "Priscilla," Guillermo del Toro's upcoming adaptation of "Frankenstein" and, in theaters now, Paul Schrader's "Oh, Canada" — the 27-year-old isn't taking his success for granted.

    "I don't want to be so arrogant as to say like, you know, 'I choose what is befitting of me,'" he said in an exclusive interview. "I'm very grateful because to say you choose these things sort of seems too conscious or something. I kind of am in a constant state of like, 'Wake me up from this.'"

    "Oh, Canada" tells the story of Leonard Fife (Richard Gere), an acclaimed documentarian on his deathbed who, in what becomes a final act of confession, agrees to have the cameras turned toward him for a documentary about his own life.

    Elordi plays a young Fife in the film, based on Russell Banks' 2021 novel, "Foregone." Despite their physical differences, Elordi's performance as a younger Gere is believable, thanks in part to the amount of effort he put into studying Gere's mannerisms.

    "Richard has such a rich career of films and a really diverse range of films so there was a lot to watch and just kind of copy him, you know? Like Simon Says or something," Elordi said. "The best one for physicality was 'American Gigolo,' because I think he was 29 or something when he made that film. So, it's, you know, not far from where I am now."

    Schrader is not known for making big-budget blockbusters. And while the filmmaker has reaped critical praise throughout his prolific career, he's made his share of panned flops.

    But that hasn't stopped the 78-year-old from... Read More

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